With ‘onerous’ union, Wal-Mart closes Canadian tire center

Wal-Mart is shutting down a unionized Tire & Lube Express in Gatineau, Que.

Wal-Mart HQ in Bentonville, Ark., told a John McCain-level lie when it claimed the labor contract an arbitrator imposed would raise operating costs by 30 percent.

The United Food and Commercial Workers union called the closure an "attack" on Wal-Mart workers. Wal-Mart in 2005 closed a store in Jonquiere, Quebec, after workers there agreed to unionize. The union has a Canada Supreme Court case pending over whether those workers' rights were violated.

Craig Herkert, Wal-Mart's chief executive officer for the Americas, said Oct. 6 the contract was “onerous.”